David Frum: In the Republican race, it’s Romney, Huntsman or bust

National Post ^ | 11/26/2011 | David Frum

[SeekAndFind]

Yesterday, 11 National Post contributors named their preferred Republican nominee in less than 250 words.

Being more indecisive and longer-winded, I needed 24 extra hours and 500 more words.

I’m looking for two chief things in a candidate for 2012:

The temperament, judgment, deftness and largeness of spirit required in the presidential office; and The creativity and intellect to respond to the global economic crisis — a crisis threatening to actually get worse if (or when) the euro implodes.

Those conditions obviously and categorically exclude the clownish Herman Cain, the daffy Ron Paul, the dim Rick Perry and the firebrand congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

A step up from those four is former U.S. senator Rick Santorum. Santorum, who is the only candidate in the race to talk about the stagnation of wages and the slowing of upward mobility in the United States. Unfortunately, Santorum — a fierce social conservative — speaks for too narrow a slice of modern America. Santorum has also never held any administrative responsibility. It’s not enough for a president to say “do this” or “do that.” Issuing the orders is the easy part. The president must ensure that “this” and “that” actually happen. If you have never had such a responsibility before, the White House is a bad place to learn — as President Obama (who also lacked any prior administrative experience) proves on a daily basis.

[RainMan]

Wow ... you are GOOD

[abb]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frum

“Frum” can be used in a negative sense for: “hypocritically pious”, “holier-than-thou”, “sanctimonious”;

[Diogenesis]

"As U.S. real output grew 13 percent between 2002 and 2006, Massachusetts trailed at 9 percent.
* Manufacturing employment fell 7 percent nationwide those years, but sank 14 percent under Romney, placing Massachusetts 48th among the states.
* Between fall 2003 and autumn 2006, U.S. job growth averaged 5.4 percent, nearly three times Massachusetts' anemic 1.9 percent pace.
* While 8 million Americans over age 16 found work between 2002 and 2006, the number of employed Massachusetts residents actually declined by 8,500 during those years.
"Massachusetts was the only state to have failed to post any gain in its pool of employed residents," professors Sum and McLaughlin concluded.
In an April 2003 meeting with the Massachusetts congressional delegation in Washington, Romney failed to endorse President Bush's $726 billion tax-cut proposal."
[Cato Institute annual Fiscal Policy Report Card - America's Governors, 2004.]

[exit82]

FUDF. 2012 is not the Year of the Mormons.

[Timber Rattler]

Jon Huntsman’s love letters (to Obama)

Huntsman thought Obama’s stimulus plan wasn’t big enough

[GlockThe Vote]

Obama was scared of him and thought he better get hunts out of the way sooner rather than later.

Aside from the global warming BS, Hunts would obliterate Obama.

[hinckley buzzard]

Yes I'm sure David "No labels" Frum("founding member"), covert liberal Palin basher who was twice fired by conservative organizations, has the republicans' best interest at heart.

[ully2]

Either one of them would run the conservative movement of the tracks.

[marty60]

Oh I have know doubt about that. Obama will be lost when it comes to a REAL debate.

McCain didn’t even try to debate him.

[tips up]

I vote for bust...

[hinckley buzzard]

Frum is no republican, and certainly no conservative. He didn't get fired from NR and AEI both because he was right on the issues. His tenure with Bush was brief. He didn't think much of his boss GW, but I guess a job is a job for the likes of Frum.

Guy's a lib, naturally he wants to rid the country of conservatives.

[RichInOC]

No, seriously, guys, if it’s Romney v. Vanilla Romney...vote for whoever you want. We’re boned anyway.

[TexasFreeper2009]

I wonder if Palin is wishing she had run at this point.

[hinckley buzzard]

"Hunts?" Guy's your buddy right? I get it now. You don't hate Newt because you're an idiot, you hate him because you're a liberal asswipe. Glad you outed yourself.

[TexasFreeper2009]

Huntsman is not worth the bucket of warm spit that I would give to Romney if he asked for water.

[GlockThe Vote]

Easy there. I am voting for RP. I’m just saying the average idiot voter is not nearly as right wing as we are and a guy like huntsman has far more appeal than Newt or Perry.

[Recovering_Democrat]

David Frum was once a bright light in the world of conservative punditry/thinking. Really. He wrote a fabulous history of the 1970s called “How We Got Here”.

Then, something happened. He got full of himself, perhaps, or he became ashamed of conservatism. Maybe someone spoke to him harshly or insulted him. I don’t know.

He has turned into a conservative who yearns, it seems, for liberal approval. He apparently wants to be the “conservative” the liberals ask to parties.

[Captain Kirk]

I’m sure Huckabee thinks the same thing. Palin is perfectly free to jump anytime she wants, albeit as a write-in candidate in the early primaries. I don’t think she would have to be a write-in in Iowa. Others have done it....but she wont’.

[Sea Parrot]

Well, uh, bye.

[Captain Kirk]

A conservative? Perhaps but he always a very statist one, perhaps along the lines Teddy Roosevelt.